Ayushman Bharat scheme: Adityanath government kicks off trial run in Uttar Pradesh

The pilot run of the ambitious national health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna scheme, popularly known as the Ayushman Bharat Scheme was kicked off in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

UP kicks off Ayushman Bharat scheme trial run

The pilot run of the ambitious national health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna scheme, popularly known as the Ayushman Bharat Scheme was kicked off in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

The state cabinet, which met here on the day, also decided to adopt the ‘trust-based model’ instead of the insurance model, which it had approved earlier. The mega national health protection scheme, which would provide free treatment of primary and tertiary check-ups of upto `5 lakh to the poor, is expected to have the largest beneficiary base in the state.

As many as 1.18 crore families, approximately 6 crore people, have been registered as beneficiaries who will be given `5 lakh per annum health insurance benefit which will cover 1,350 diseases.

As per the scheme, private hospitals, too, will be a part of the ‘world’s largest health insurance scheme’, in which a patient can choose from among the hospitals and get the treatment done.

The trial run will take place in all divisional headquarters for a week or so, after which it would be extended for a few more days at all state-run hospitals.

“Basically, the trial run will will test the coordination between doctors and patients and also check whether the facility runs hassle free,” said an official of the health department. A 13-member high powered government body headed by the chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey will monitor the process.

The state had earlier zeroed in on the ‘insurance company model’ for implementing the scheme, which has now been changed to directly provide healthcare services through empanelled hospitals by establishing a trust. The Centre had left it to the states to choose the either option.

“We realised that the trust model is more successful as insurance companies do not process claims so easily and claim settlement will be easier under trust model,” Uttar Pradesh’s health minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, adding that Bihar and Assam have also opted for the trust-based model.